Chamberlain’s brigade was in the lead. In the early afternoon at the crossing of gravely run he encountered the brigade of gen. William P. Roberts consisting of the 4th North Carolina Cavalry and the 16th NC Cavalry Battalion who were behind breastworks. Chamberlain formed a plan which he communicated to general griffin, who approved it and directed general Gregory to support chamberlain on the left in order to protect his flank. Griffin also directed general Bartlett to join in if needed. Gregory’s line of battle consisted from left to right, of the 187th NY,. 188th ny and 189th ny. His battle line was prceeded by a skirmish line. Gregory’s report OR vol. 46, Pt. 1, p. 853.

Chamberlain placed Bvt. Brig. Gen. General Sickel with eight companies of the 198th Pa. Inf. on the right of the road below the ruined bridge, with instructions to pour a hot fire upon the enemy opposite. On the left of the road Col. G. Sniper of the 185th Pa. also fired on the confederates. Under cover of their fire Maj. E.A. Glenn of the secomd battalion of the 198th Pa. in skirmishing order dashed through the stream and struck the enemy's breastworks front and flank. There was heavy firing then hand to hand fighting for a few minutes and then Roberts fell back slowly to the lewis farm, stubbornly resisting the federals under Maj. Glenn. Chamberlain and the rest of the brigade crossed the stream behind glenn. (Joshua Chamberlain, The passing of the armies p. 43)

The 10th New York Cavalry appeared on the field. Warren also had a mounted escort of 40- men. Warren’s report p. 797. Roberts spotted union cavalry and placed a squadron (2 companies) under Lt. W.P. Shaw of company D in the middle of the quaker road with orders to meet a cavalry charge with a counter-charge of their own, but to fall back before Union infantry. Further up quaker road Roberts deployed the dismounted men of the regiment on either side of the road near the steam saw mill on the Lewis farm. Roberts rode up and took position on the right of the line an regimental commander Capt. Demosthenes Bell stopped on the left of the officer in charge. They used the piles of sawdust for their breastworks.
The squadron fell back to the steam saw mill and deployed with the dismounted men on either flank. Chamberlain’s brigade, followed closely behind. Gen. Roberts took the post of honor on the right of the mounted men and Capt. Demosthenes Bell took position on the far left, next to the squadron commander. When the federals reached the lewis house they fired a deadly volley into the mounted men of the 4th NC. The regimental commander, Capt. Bell, was terribly wounded in the face and led to the rear. Capt. J.B. Cherry of company F was mortally wounded as soon as he took command of the regiment. Capt. L. A. Johnson’s company A suffered more severely than any other company. W.P. Shaw “Sketch 59th regiment” in North Carolina Regiments volume 3 page 468.
At this point confederate infantry took over the job of fighting chamberlain and the rest of griffin’s 1st division. Roberts was sent to the boydton plank road to guard against a union advance up that road. He took position in a stand of pines on a hill at the wilson house, known locally as evergreen. To the left of the road the ground descended into a valley with a ravine mid-way across it On the other side of the valley was a hillside covered with brown straw with a stand of stunted pines.
After a time a federal skirmish line emerged from the pines and descended the slope into the valley. Roberts assembled a squadron under Lt. W.P. Shaw of company D and ordered him to attack once the federals reached the ravine. Led by Roberts in person Shaw’s squadron with sabers drawn swept down on them so quickly that the Yankees had time to fire a single volley which killed only two men and wounded a few others. Once Shaw reached the ditch, the federals in the center of the line who were closest to him surrendered. However, at either end of the line the Yankees were still full of fight. an officer yelled “don’t surrender! Shoot ‘em!”. The federals snatched up their rifles and fired. Shaw’s squadron beat a hasty retreat. Shaw himself lost his horse and was forced to flee on foot ., A few minu8tes later Roberts selected another squadron and, charged again with the same results. Finally Roberts, with the help of a portion of the 34th Virginia Infantry, charged down the hill a third time and drove the skirmishers across the valley and up the opposite slope.

The confederates were surprised to find among the pines atop the hill a union line of battle that had been lying down concealed by the brown straw, rise up and fire downhill on them, fortunately above their heads. Before this large force of infantry the command retired up the plank road. Later Roberts was ordered to picket the front and right of Anderson’s position. It was midnight by the time he finished placing his videttes. “Sketch 59th regiment” in North Carolina Regiments volume 3 page 468-69. Theodore Garnett, “The fighting about Petersburg and the evacuation of the city” in new annals of the war pp. 533-534.